POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING
by Sameer Gurung (2000) Gurugram Public School, Gurgaon/India on 2017-09-11
POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING
“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow”
--Helen Keller
This beautiful metaphor aptly captures the whole essence of positive thinking in a very concise way and enlightens the idea in the simplest manner possible. The sunshine here symbolizes the source of positivity in our life, whereas shadows stand for gloominess in our life. The easiest way to keep the shadows out of our sight is to simply orient ourselves in the direction of sunlight. Today, positive thinking is best described in one word as ‘optimism’. It traces its origin to the Latin world ‘optimum’, which means ‘the best’. Positive thinking is a mental perception, a psychology that compels a person to believe that things that have happened are good for us and the things that will happen will contain the best that life can offer to us. Negative thinking on the other hand, is in sharp contrast to it. It shows fear and apprehension in our minds, makes us unsure about our own success and gives a huge setback to our self-confidence and morale. Pessimism attributes doubt to our beliefs, failure to our attempts and abjection to our attitude.
A strong positive mental attitude will emanate more miracles than any wonder drug. As a saying goes,” A positive attitude may not solve all your problems but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” Thus positive thinking acts as a happiness magnet which draws not only positive things, but also positive people closer. Being positive is not limited only to wrestling with the struggles of life with hope. It also means to appreciate the splendour of life and feel thankful for the same. Adversities are necessary in our life to help us realize our own potential. They reveal our concealed skills. There is good in everything that happens to us, some reward us for our good conduct, some teach us lessons, some spread smiles on our face and some other make us stronger. A positive bent of mind enables us to think well of ourselves and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but in great deeds, “if winter comes can spring be far behind.”
Theresa Krinninger
Gisela-Gymnasium, München/Germany (2000) on 2017-10-10
Elena Diehl
Gisela-Gymnasium, München/Germany (2000) on 2017-09-27